


Breaking the Habit

by Boom_Squirrel



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Healing, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Suicide, No Relic in V's head, Seriously Sprinkled with Crack, Sexual Tension, Some angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:14:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boom_Squirrel/pseuds/Boom_Squirrel
Summary: "Blinding lights. It's loud. I'm on stage and almost can't breath. I'm so damn full off... hatred. Then I let it all out into a mic. And I realize it didn't help, I don't feel any better."orThe idea that floated around in my head since I heard V saying that line in game and my mind went like: What if there's two Vs? Valerie and Vincent? They're siblings and have a band!Well... and I took Linkin Park as reference.
Relationships: Judy Alvarez/Female V, Judy Alvarez/V, Judy Alvarez/Valerie, Misty Olszewski/Jackie Welles, Panam Palmer/Male V, Panam Palmer/V, Panam Palmer/Vincent
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	1. Late night encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah... here it comes. My try at Cyberpunk fanfiction. Had this idea in my head for a while now and after reading FFs from ShadowBlazer and greendotsandswords here on AO3 it nagged me even more somehow. And during a convo greendots said "Life's too short to doubt yourself, choom :)", so yeah... here we are now. ^^  
> Maybe there will be more tags and characters for upcoming chapters later. Well, if I write them. I tend to take my time... Tinkerd with this first chapter alone for almost two weeks.  
> Anyway, I hope you have fun and let's go! :D
> 
> Note: English isn't my native language and I don't have someone to beta. Sorry about any mistakes!

Here she was. On a shady parking lot, during a drizzling night, not even a stone's throw away from her pad and the only thing that kept Judy Alvarez away from her comfy - more importantly dry - little hidey hole were tree dumbshits, trying to rob her after a busy night at Lizzie’s. 

Judy’s workday already started way too promising, with her van breaking down. After a few tries to get it back up and running, she gave up somewhat frustrated. The Techie had an idea what was wrong with the vehicle, but to fix it she would have needed way more time than she had to spare at that moment. Conclusion: she went to work by the freaking bus! 

Imagine the shit eating grins on the faces of Rita Wheeler and Kai Omenuko in front of Lizzie’s Bar. When the two bouncer girls spotted an already slightly pissed Judy coming down the sidewalk from Sutter Street Station, they just couldn’t keep their jibing remarks to themselves, when the BD editor passed them. 

“That’ll be one of their top five gossip topics for the next few days or so…”, Judy mused in her mind, her face showing annoyance. “If they don’t find anythin’ else to gossip about that is.”

But that was nothing compared to the shit ton of “very urgent, but very important” work Susie Q loaded on her desk. Judy ended up editing her overall-clad ass off till some unholy hour in the middle of the night. Yes, she was mostly working at nighttime, like the others...

“But not this fuckin’ long!”, she mentally complained, her expression twisting in anger.

All she wanted after getting out of the bus on Charter Street was to go home, kick off her shoes, change into something dry and drop dead into her bed. And now, even with her goal in arms reach, Judy’s plans went down the drain.

“So close, yet so far away… What d’I do to deserve this shitshow?!”, her frustration clearly at display.

“Hey! You’re done makin’ faces?!”, the guy in faded worn flip flops shouted at her.

“Give us your fuckin’ money I said!”, to emphasize his point, he waved around his handgun in a seemingly threatening manner. 

That brought Judy back to the problem at hand. While mentally replaying the dumpster fire that was her day, she somehow completely forgot about beanie boy, knife guy and flip flop. Judy rolled her eyes at that last revelation. 

“Seriously?! Welcome to Night City, where you get klepped by a guy with a gun, wearin’ ducttaped flip flops!”, she thought.

Another thing that added to this glorious day of hers: she forgot her smart pistol at home when she left for the bus. For that mistake Judy would have probably smashed her head against a wall, if such a thing would be nearby. Shady parking lot didn’t even give her that chance.

Right about now she was considering, if she should actually be scared, just plain pissed or should outright laugh at her situation. The latter would leave her looking like a complete madwoman for sure.

But before Judy could react in any way, a new figure entered the stage. It seems the part of the madwoman was already taken by someone else tonight.

“Hey, you! Yeah, you wannabe Claws or whatever you shitsheads ‘re supposed to be! Leave her the fuck alone!”

From the alley beside a warehouse a figure resembling a woman stepped out to them. Like her unwanted new friends, the Techie was quite surprised by the appearance of the newcomer. 

Her first impulse was to feel hopeful. Judy imagined for a moment, that some badass merc chick came to her rescue. Maybe even chromed up with a pair of these neat Mantis Blades? Like that cute, but kinda scary MaxTac lieutenant she won the uniform from. But after a quick look over the woman's atterie, the flame of hope died down rather quickly. 

Flip flop still had his gun pointed at Judy, while beanie boy and knife guy didn’t seem too impressed by the rain soaked woman either. She looked like she just crawled out of one of these landfills outside of Night City. But she was wearing proper shoes, Judy gave her points for that at least - silver linings!

“This your girl or somethin’? Fuck off!”, knife guy shouted, waving her off with a dismissive gesture. They didn’t even consider her worth robbing!

“Nope, don’t know her. Doesn't mean I won’t come to her aid, though!”, was the answer, while the woman kept coming over to them. There was a slight limping and sway in her walk, Judy noticed. Beanie boy got somewhat nervous now, since he raised his gun at her.

“Stay away, bitch!”, he shouted.

“No!”

“But we have guns!”, he pointed his gun arm straighter, with more emphasis.

“Don’t care!”, madwoman, as Judy has dubbed her by now, still kept coming over.

“But… that doesn’t make any sense!”, beanie boy lowered his gun slightly in confusion, turning to his friends as if they were any wiser.

“Too bad!”

With that madwoman reached them. For a split second Judy catched a savage glint in her eyes, before she jumped right at beanie boy. In midair she leaned backwards and swung her right arm, just to hammer her fist onto his left temple when he turned back to face her again.

The force of the punch combined with the momentum of the jump and body twist was enough to knock beanie boy to the ground. His gun fell off his hand and he was unconscious when his head hit the floor. Madwoman came down in an almost cool kneeling position. Almost, because she slipped on the wet floor and fell sideways into a puddle of rain, grime and oil.

“Fuckin’ shit!”

Like Judy, knife guy and flip flop had just stood there frozen in awe and shock, watching the downfall of beanie boy unfold in front of them. But the splashing noise and madwoman’s curse was enough to snap the two robbers out of the momentary trance.

Knife guy slashed at madwoman with his knife - Judy didn’t dub him knife guy for nothing - while she was trying to get up. Madwoman managed to turn away from the blade. Instead of hitting any vital parts, it cut through the jacked and skin of her left bicep with a slashing sound.

“You’ll regret that. I’ll kill you and sell your dead corpse to some Scavs!”, flip flop shouted.

He lost interest in pointing his gun at Judy and instead turned to help his friend. He slid his gun into his belt, then swung out his leg and kicked madwoman into the left side. With another splash she hit the puddle again.

While both of her initial attackers were occupied with kicking and slicing at her supposed rescue, Judy saw her chance to step into action. Quickly she moved to grab the fallen gun from beanie boy, who still was counting stars. She knew her way around a handgun, she was a Mox after all, so she checked the magazine quickly... just to find out it’s empty.

“You're kiddin’ me, right?! What kind of goons are they?!”, Judy thought in utter disbelief. “Plan B it is then!”

She flipped the gun in her hand to whack flip flop over the head. Judy’s aim was true, as he stumbled to the side, making a surprised sound while grabbing his head with one hand. Judy used his moment of disorientation to grab the pistol from his belt, switching the empty one with it. 

This one at least felt a bit heavier, giving her the impression that it was loaded at least. Judy pointed the gun at flip flop, who turned around to her again. His eyes widened a little and he raised his hands, confirming Judy’s presumption.

“Wait, wait… don’t shoot!”, all of the sudden, he lost all of his bravado. “Look, we’re just tryin’ to… AGRRRRRH FUUUUCK!”

Flip flops' excuse was abruptly cut off by a knife ramming into his thigh and a solid kick to the side, which sent him flying to the ground. Judy just looked baffled, first to the knife, then to its initial owner lying motionless on the ground, with blood all over his face, to madwoman’s red smeared knuckles and that same savage glint in her eyes Judy noticed before. 

The woman jumped onto the flip flop, straddling his hips and started slamming her fists into the man’s face, while he was screaming in pain and begging her to stop.

For a moment Judy didn’t know what to do. Yes, these guys tried to rob her. But the fact how poorly they were armed - for Night City standards at least - showed her that they mainly wanted to scare her to get the money. Now she felt almost sorry for the guy whose face was in the process of being beaten into a pulp by a maniac who appeared to be on one level with a cyberpsycho.

Without much thinking she grabbed one of madwoman's writs, stopping it midair. “Chill the hell out, would ya?!”

The gun was still in her hand at her side. Judy was ready to defend herself, if necessary. Her action seems to have an impact, though. The woman stopped her bloody work and looked up. The seconds ticked by and it seems like her mind snapped back from whatever madness it was in, as her eyes focused on Judy’s. The almost whimpering sound of flip flop brought her attention back to him. The woman stared at his beaten face, then at her blood smeared hands, which were shaking by now.

“Fuck…”, she brought out, sounding somewhat lost and moved slowly to get up from the guy.

“Yeah… Not sure if I should thank you, or… Whoa, whoa, whoa…!”, Judy jumped to her aid as the woman's left leg gave away under her, when she tried to stand.

“I’ve got ya.”, she tugged away the weapon and laid one arm of the woman over her shoulders to support her. Close up, she reeked of alcohol, smoke and things Judy didn’t even want to name. 

“Can you walk?”

“Guess so...”

“‘kay, let’s move then. Sleepin’ beauty ‘s waking up.”, Judy nodded over to Beanie Boy, who started to stir and grumble.

If Susie Q could see her now, she would complain that Judy was all kinds of crazy for taking this probably insane lady with her like a stray kitten. But the woman was obviously wounded, apparently lost, Judy was a Mox, was taking her to her place instead of Lizzie’s and Susie Q wasn’t here to judge.

“And she came, tryin’ to help… more or less.”, Judy thought and cursed the fact that the short way to her pad appeared so much longer while dragging an almost dead weight all the way with her.

Climbing the steps to her floor was even more tiresome, but Judy finally managed to get the woman to her couch. She slumped her down rather ungracefully, before raising up her arms to stretch her back.

“I’ll get stuff to patch you up. Don’t..”, Judy stopped herself. Where should the woman even go in her condition? 

In the light of Judy’s apartment she looked even worse than before. Yep, ‘crawled out of a landfill’ seems indeed pretty accurate. But even in her beat up state she looked somewhat familiar to Judy. The Techie just couldn’t place a finger on it, though. But right now she had more urgent matters to attend to anyway, so she pushed that thought into the far back of her mind for the time being. She went to her bathroom to get her first aid kit and brought it to her couch table. She sat down on the table, grabbed out a MaxDoc Mk. 1 - not much in this situation, but all she had - and held it to her guest.

“Take a swiff.”, Judy urged, while the woman just stared at her in silence.

“Come on, I want to go to bed at some point today!”, normally she would be a little less impatient, while helping others. But after all that happened today, patience - which wasn’t one of Judys strong suits in the first place - really started to stretch very thin.

Finally her patient grabbed the inhaler and did what Judy told her. If you have the time it’s kind of facinating to observe how ‘life comes back’ to someone quite literally after using a MaxDoc or other meds of the kind. Judy switched her focus on getting a look at the woman's upper arm. The cut she received from Knife Guy was still bleeding and probably in dire need of proper cleaning after hitting this grimy puddle.

“I’m goin’ to take off your jacked. This cut prolly needs some stitches.”, Judy told her what she intended to do. 

If you care about Joytoys or others of the like, you tend to do that. You can’t know what they went through and how they might react if you touch them out of the blue. For all the things Judy had experienced in that regard, she never expected a reaction like the one that followed, when she leaned forward to grab the collar of said jacked to get it off.

“You’re cute… wanna have some fun?”, the woman asked, her tone low. While she spoke, she leant in herself, placing her right hand firmly on Judy’s inner thigh, already sliding up slowly.

Judy leand back abruptly in an attempt to bring space between them. For a second she was confused by the turn of events. The smirk the woman had on her face was rather lascivious, but her eyes seemed to look right through Judy. As if she wasn’t even here with her, not in the same room, not even on the same plane of existence. 

In any case, that didn’t hinder Judy to focus and stop this more than uncalled - and poorly executed - attempt to get into her pants. She grabbed the wrist of the wandering hand to rip it off her thigh and bend it back forcefully.

“The hell?! Who d’you think you are?!”, Judy stopped completely in her task to tent to the woman’s wounds and bend said wrist even further, while looking at her in anger.

The woman let out a small cry of pain as her wrist was grabbed and her arm twisted into a direction it naturally wasn’t supposed to be in. It brought her focus back to Judy, though. She looked at the Techie for a moment before answering.

“Who d’you think I am?”

“Apparently some drunk an’ high gonk, who can’t keep her hands to herself!”, her patience was gone.

Judy was outright pissed now. She stood up from the table, throwing the arm she held aside, while slapping the woman’s face with her other hand with a soundful smack. That sent her guest slumping back into the backrest of the couch. Judy stared down at her with boiling anger in her eyes, while considering her options what to do with her. 

The reason for said anger was just looking back up at her, amusement appearing on her features, while holding her reddening cheek. She started snorting at first, then was laughing like Judy just told the best joke all of mankind ever came up with.

“What’s so funny?!”, Judy demanded to know, but never got the answer.

The woman stopped laughing abruptly, held herself completely still, digged her fingers into the edge of the couch and stared at some point behind Judy’s hip, color draining from her face. The Techie had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

“Bathroom!...”, was all the warning her guest managed, before Judy rushed in to help her up again and hurry her to the desired location.

Not a second too late they reached the toilet. Judy’s guest flung herself over the bowl, starting to empty out all of her stomach's contents and then some. More out of reflex than thinking, Judy held her hair up. It already was filthy as it was and didn’t need something extra. Doesn’t mean Judy was any less pissed at her. 

If someone was handing out a prize for further ruining Judy’s already ruined day, this woman was clearly trying to rush straight past any competition there was before to get it.

When her body was back on the couch again, Judy’s guest fell unconscious almost immediately. The exertion of repeatedly vomiting must have drained out any strength that was left in her. Judy checked her pulse, which was steady at least. But otherwise her guest was completely out of order.

“Fuckin’ great…”, she sighted and pinched the bridge of her nose. 

Choosing to ignore the unwanted advances from before, Judy sat back onto the table and continued her original plan to tend to her guests wounds. She needed to treat this cut, otherwise it’ll bleed all over her couch. At least Judy could work without any disturbance from her patient now.

Again she reached for the women's jacked and peeled it off her, dumping it on the floor for the time being. The woman wore a tank top underneath, so Judy had clear access to the knife wound on her arm. She was no Trauma Team by any means, but working with the Mox leaves you with some basics in first aid. Or at least Judy wanted to know them. 

When she was done with cleaning and stitching, Judy was rather pleased with her handiwork. Aside from bruised and scraped skin she didn’t notice any more open wounds, but she wanted to be sure so she took off the top. It was damp and dirty anyway.

“Oh, fuck…”, Judy breathed out with wide eyes, when she noticed that almost the whole left part of the womans back and side was black and blue. Judy remembered Flip Flop kicking her there, but that definitely wasn’t enough to leave such a massive bruise. Taking off her shoes and jeans, Judy found that her left knee didn’t look any better. That explained at least why the woman’s leg gave away a few times.

“How d’you even manage to walk, let alone beat up two guys?”, she asked out loud, but of course didn’t get an answer out of the unconscious woman.

At least there wasn’t anything else that needed stitches, so Judy packed up the aid kit and got the damp clothes off the floor to take both to the bathroom. When picking up the jacked something fell out, hitting the floor with a clattering sound. Judy picked it up and looked at an inhaler. Turning it back and forth she didn’t find any imprints on what might be the content. She held the mouthpiece to her nose to take a small cautious sniff and found the answer to her previous question.

Black Lace

Judy looked back to the sleeping form on her couch. The woman appeared so broken and small laying there in just her underwear with her beaten up body, slightly shaking in the chill of the night - or early morning? Judy felt a pang of pity seeing her like this.

“What am I goin’ to do with you, huh?”, she asked out, but that was a problem for tomorrow Judy, she decided.

Bringing the items in her hands into the bathroom, she hung the damp clothes somewhere to dry. Next Judy went to her bedroom to fish out a blanket, putting it over her guest. After a moment the shaking stopped, while the woman clutched the blanket closer to her body and curled up into a tight ball, as if she wanted to take as less space as possible. Judy sighed, killed the lights and went to her room.

Finally she was able to take time for herself, take a deep breather and step out of her own damp clothes. She tossed her overalls, white top and underwear into a laundry basket in front of her wardrobe, too tired to go back and throw them onto her ever growing pile beside the washing machine. After putting on her favorite blue sleeping shorts and a clean top Judy fell onto her bed, laying one arm over her eyes.

“What a day…”, she mused already half asleep, tiredness finally catching up with her and leaving her with a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this was the first one. Just to clarify: Kai Omenuko is supposed to be the dark skinned bouncer girl at Lizzie's Bar, beside Rita Wheeler. In some FFs she's called Kai, so I stuck with that. I just gave her the surename Omenuko. It means "one who acts at the time of scarcity" and is an african surename. I thought since she's part of the Moxes it would be kind of fitting?
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading! Stay save have a nice day! :)


	2. Morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay folks... already had to struggle with writing. Got distracted by three things: 1. Got Age of Empires II: Definitive Edidion, played the old one when I was younger, so I really like this one. 2. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure... kinda hard to focus on writing after watching that anime. Just after two episodes my brain hurts like... a lot! 3. My sister went to hospital as an emergency, but she's better and back home by now.  
> Anyhow, quick thank you to greendotsandswords for pointing some stuff out with the first chapter. Thought about it and updated it somewhat.  
> Yeah... uhm... don't know what else to say. Till later in the end notes! :)

The next morning - it’s morning when you get out of bed, not when daytime tells you, simple as that - Judy was already dressed, making breakfast for herself and was not even trying to be silent while doing so. In fact, she was not trying the whole time she was awake doing her morning routine. Some sort of payback for yesterday. Naturally the noise made her guest stir and grumble on Judy’s couch at some point.

“Ugrrrrrh… my head…”, the woman complained, while sitting up in slow motion, holding said body part first in one, then with both hands.

“Serves you right, I would say.”

Her guest turned to her, eyes a mixture of confusion and pain. She must have one hell of a headache from what Judy could read off her body language. That aligned perfectly with the fact that Judy was still mad at her for her unwanted and more than rude advances.

“Wha…”, the woman tried, but got stuck gaping like a fish out of water.

She looked around, from the still unfinished bot and posters on the wall, over the kitchen area with Judy in it to the fishtank. Her eyes widening a little while doing so, apparently she tried to piece together where she was and how she ended up here. When her eyes finally landed back on Judy, she flinched slightly. The daggers Judy was glaring at her were real.

“What d’I do?”, she grimaced.

“You came helpin’ me, while I was bein’ klepped last night.”

“That… doesn’t sound so bad?”, there was slight hope in her voice.

“Later you wanted to get into my pants and puked all over my toilet!”, Judy crossed her arms in front of her in a defensive guestrue. In truth, the latter was not even that bad. Her guest managed to hit the bowl at least. Plus Judy worked at a bar in Night City, a little puke isn’t going to put her off. But her guest didn’t need to know that!

The woman stared at her for a short while, remembrance kicking in after Judy’s words. She lowered her head and shut her eyes tightly, while Judy could make out some sort of whispered curse. Judy’s guest stayed in that position for a long moment. Aside from the ever ongoing traffic noise, which floated through the open window, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Finally the woman dared to look up again, searching for Judy’s eyes.

“What I said… what I did… Look, I didn’t mean to…”, she roamed one hand through her hair in frustration, until she took another deep breath and pulled herself together.

“Probably doesn’t mean much by now, but I’m sorry.”

Judy searched her face for any hint that she was dishonest. Her guest just sat there, holding her gaze. Judy couldn’t find anything in her serious looking eyes, so she had to assume that the woman’s apology was genuine. That was something at least.

“Look, I’m just takin’ my stuff and be outta here.”, Judy’s guest suggested, when noticing her current state of clothing. 

“Uhm… thank you for patchin’ me up.”, she tried to stand, but sunk back to the couch when her left leg protested during the careless motion. “Shit… forgot ‘bout that…”

Judy raised a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. This person kept irritating her. What added to it was the fact that she still looked like some zombie out of a sewer. Judy should just take her guest by her offer, handing her back her filthy, but now at least dry clothes and throw her out of her pad. She had a van to fix anyhow, which was probably way more worth her time than this person. 

“Not sayin’ you’re off the hook, but at least get clean. I’ll give you something to wear.”, did Judy even listen to her initial thoughts of kicking the woman out? Apparently not. Her guest sat there and looked at her in surprise, but that feeling was mutual for the woman and Judy both it seems. 

“Move, before I change my mind!”

With that the woman tried to rise again, but this time more carefully not to burden her injured leg too much. She stayed silent while Judy went to her bedroom, picking up something to wear and dumping it into her guests' hands. She watched as the woman limped slowly to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. After some moments Judy heard the water running.

“The hell ‘re you thinkin’ Judy?!”, she asked herself irritated, moving back to the kitchen area, now looking for something edible for her guest, too.

A short while later the woman emerged back to the living area, wearing an old yellow and black Mox shirt and some faded knee long shorts. On the contrary of many people’s beliefs Judy wasn’t born in her overalls. The shirt was a remnant from Judy’s early days with the Mox and sported the typical Mox skull together with the word ‘bitch’ written in black caps. A decent shower and clean clothes did wonders to the woman's appearance. Even her bruises had faded somewhat thanks to the MaxDoc and some sleep. Now her guest looked like a human being again.

“A rather good lookin’ human being…”, Judy thought for a second. Sure, she was not fond of this person, but she could appreciate good looks when they presented themself. On top of that Judy tried to figure out why the hell her guest looked vaguely familiar to her. Was she at Lizzie’s once? 

The woman was still rubbing her hair dry with a towel, when she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened again when she saw the giant octopus painting on the wall behind Judy’s couch. She had a rather impressed look in her eyes, while taking it in. When she switched her gaze from the painted sea creature to Judy, she looked like she didn’t know what to do with herself. Apparently the infamous Alvarez death glare was still active, while Judy was watching her.

“Didn’t get your name yesterday…”

“Uhm… It’s Valerie.”

Valerie came over cautiously, like she expected that Judy would pull a shotgun from the kitchen counter. She sat down on one of the stools, towel dangling around her shoulders. Judy turned abruptly to her cupboard to fish something out. She could swear she heard a sigh of relief behind her. When she had found what she was looking for, she handed her guest two pills and a bottle of water. Judy crossed her arms again and pointed an accusatory glare at her.

“Let me be honest here, Valerie. You acted like a huge dick yesterday and I’m still considering kickin’ you out.”

“You’ve all the right to do so. I… wasn’t really myself.”, she said with a weak smile.

“Don’t give me the ‘I was just drunk ‘an high’ bullshit. No excuse!”

“I know…”, Valerie lowered her gaze to the two pills still resting on the smooth surface of the kitchen counter.

Damn, that was not fair at all! How was Judy supposed to stay mad at her, when Valerie acted all sorry and remorseful? Was she now considering these pills where poison or something? And if they were, would she take them? Judy got the feeling, whatever she would decide to do, Valerie would just accept her punishment, no complaints or defence whatsoever. 

“Just take them, it’ll help with the hangover.”, Judy eased her gaze with a sigh. “I’m Judy, by the way.”

Without a second thought Valerie took the pills and gulped them down with the offered water.

“Thanks.”, the other woman said, after lowering the now half empty bottle. 

Gods, this woman was so damn frustrating! First she was helpful, then reckless, then like a psycho, then a total jerk, then all sorry and apparently a decent human being. She switched moods faster than Susie Q on her period! If this Valerie would still act like some rockerboy from 2023 it would be so much easier.

“You think you’re able to stomach some food?”, Judy handed a burrito XXL over. Her last ham & cheese sandwich was all for Judy herself and she would not even dream of sharing it.

Valerie eyed the plastic wrapping for a moment like she was considering if it was worth the try to eat it’s contents. She finally decided to give it a shot and took the burrito from Judy’s hand. They sat in silence while they ate and Judy sipped her coffee occasionally. When Valerie was through half of her burrito and was able to keep it to herself, she glanced up in surprise.

“Pills... what are they?”, she asked bewildered.

“Just a little something from a girl I know. Don’t know what’s in them myself, though.”

“Little shits beat every hangover there ever will be, I promise you that!”, Rita had announced in all her baseball bat wielding confidence, plus a conspiratorial wink. Judy had to admit even if she was very suspicious of these unknown pills, the Mox was right so far. When they were available, the staff at Lizzie’s ate them like candy after some nights. Plus Judy highly doubted that Rita would give them away, if they were seriously harmful in any way. So Judy let it slide that she didn’t know what’s in them. Maybe it’s for the better, who knows?

“This stuff is preem. She could make lots of Eddies selling them.”

Judy scoffed at that. “Maybe, but nstead of selling stuff at some street corner, she likes beating up gonks with her bat too much.”

Valerie actually chuckled at this, a short but rather plesant sound. At least in Judy’s book. Their little conversation died down with that, so they kept to their meals in silence. This silence stretched until they were finished and Judy had decided what to do. She couldn’t keep the other woman all day. She had places to be, stuff to do and first of all still a van to fix.

“Do you have a place to be? Someone to call?”, Judy asked. “Would be nice if I didn't have a tag along the whole day.”

“Where are we exactly?”

“Charter Street, Kabuki.”, that earned Judy a surprised look.

“What? How did I…?”, Valerie started, before she shook her head in disbelief, running a hand through her hair again. “Fuck… Look, may I use your phone? Uhm… please? I’ll call my brother, he picks me up and I’m out of your hair.”

That sounded reasonable. Judy handed it over and just watched the other woman closely while she was dialing a number and holding the device to her ear. Her eyes stayed on Judys for a few seconds until the connection was established.

“Hey Vin, it’s Valerie…”, after the first words her eyes dropped to the counter surface.

“Yeah… I’m sorry… How long?... Three days?!”, her hand ran through her hair, which was a gesture of discomfort or insecurity, Judy noticed by now. 

“Fuck… please tell Mama Wells I’m okay.... Could you pick me up? Kabuki, Charter Street, I’ll send the detes…”, Valerie's eyes began to glow a short moment in that light unnatural blue.

“Yeah… Okay… Yes… Thanks, see ya.”, Valerie finished and handed the phone back over.

“He'll be here in about twenty.”, she announced. “If traffic is kind enough…”

While they waited, they didn’t have much of a conversation. Judy was mostly busy trying to figure out the other woman’s behavior. Plus she didn’t want to be too noisy. Maybe she would have been, if their encounter would have been different. But Judy just couldn’t get that unwanted scene out of her head. Obviously Valerie was drunk and maybe on every drug available in Night City, but Judy didn’t let that count as an excuse. An explanation maybe, but not an excuse. 

Sure, she had some encounters like this before. There was always some gonk at Lizzie’s who got too far one way or another and didn’t get the meaning of the simple word ‘no’. But Judy was able to brush it off and don’t think about it too long since this person would be asked out of the bar rather quickly. Especially when Rita came in and let her bat do the asking out. Maybe what nuggs Judy now is the fact that this scene didn’t add up with the person who was now silently sitting at her kitchen counter?

“Don’t overthink this… You hand her over to her brother in a few and then you prolly never see her again.”, Judy thought to herself.

Meanwhile Valerie then turned to the octopus painting again. She stared at it for several seconds before speaking the first time after almost ten minutes of silence.

“Looks nova. You did this?”

Judy stopped roaming around in her kitchen area. She didn’t really have anything to clean up or sort around. She just tried to be occupied during the silent waiting. Judy turned and looked at the giant painting fondly.

“Yeah… with a little help, though. Was not that easy to get some quality paint abound here. You know? The good stuff, which doesn’t peel off like two days after you applied it.”

“How’d you get your hands on that? Another girl you know?”

“Neighbour actually. Works at a garage, does mostly paint jobs. But he knows where to get paint for all kinds of stuff, given enough time.”, Judy dismissed the topic with a waving hand gesture.

“At the window you can actually see the gateway. You should see when your pickup arrives.”, with that Judy went to the bathroom to get the woman’s clothes. She put them in an old box she wanted to discard anyway and placed it on the kitchen counter. Her guest was now standing at the window, watching the street.

“There he comes…”, Valerie pointed out a short while later.

Curious Judy walked over to her to follow Valerie’s line of sight. What she saw would have made her choke if she would be drinking. Driving through the gate onto the parking area in front of Judy’s apartment complex was a shiny Quadra Type 66 Avenger. 

“That’s your brother's ride?”, Judy blurted out.

“It’s mine. He’s more of a bike type.”, Valerie clarifies in a nonchalant way, while they watched as the sportscar stopped and a person got out. A sharp short whistle from Valerie and said person looked up to the window.

“We come down!”, with that Valerie turned to get into her shoes and pick up the box Judy prepared.

They walked down the hallway and stairs in silence. Most of the time Judy was somewhat pissed by the omnipresent lack of interest the people of Night City have in their surroundings. Like she could literally be robbed like yesterday even in bright daylight with lots of people around and no one would care. Right now, Judy was kind of glad the neighbours they encountered on the stairs kept to themselves, not questioning Judy and her limping companion, who carried around an old box with dirty clothes.

Out of the main entrance Judy was presented with a man, probably in Valerie's age and with rather good looks, too. A family traid, maybe? He leaned off the car and took down the sunglasses while turning to them.

“Damn, Val… Mama Wells is mucho pissed. Three fuckin’ days you’re gone and no one heard a word. Guess she’s ready to rip your head off.”

“I can imagine…”, Valerie answered through gritted teeth, apparently not fond of the idea of facing this ‘Mama Wells’ person.

“Sorry, my manners. I’m Vincent Wells.”, he gave Judy a respectful nod. “Thank you for taking care of my big gonk sister here.”

“Judy Alvarez. And yeah, a gonk she is.”, Judy shoots a short glare over to Valerie, while crossing her arms in front of her defensively.

“What did she do?”

“Can’t we just delta?”, Valerie tried to intervene.

“She saved me from kleppers, tried to get into my pants and puked all over my toilet.”, Vincent gave his sister a stern look.

“You know what? Just waiting in the car, okay?”, with that the topic of conversation dumped the box in the trunk of the Avenger and went to the passenger door. Before Valerie got in, she looked back to Judy, searching her eyes and holding her gaze.

“Thanks, Judy.”, with that she stepped in and was ignoring them by looking to the side out of the window. The trash bags lying around in the parking area were suddenly very interesting to her.

Vincent let out a breath of air, then turned back to Judy after watching his sister disappear into the car.

“Look, I’m sorry for what she did. It’s…”, Vincent paused a moment. Either to search for the right words or to determine if it’s worth telling a stranger he just met, Judy couldn’t tell.

“Complicated?”, Judy offered.

“Yeah… Anyway, thank you for all you’ve done. We’ll bring your clothes back.”, he promised. “Don’t know if it’s of any worth, but if you ever need help, just call.”, with that he turned for the passenger door.

“Wait!”, Judy shouted out and held out her closed hand. “This was in her jacked.”

When Vincent reached out, she dropped the Black Lace inhaler into his open palm. His expression turned sad as he noticed immediately what he now held in his hand.

“Dum Dum…” he muttered, while clutching the inhaler suddenly. The man’s mood turned sour for a moment, the plastic of the inhaler gave away a cracking noise. He clamed himself again quickly, stuffed it into his jacked and looked up to Judy.

“Again, thank you.”, he gave a serious nod, before stepping into the Avenger.

Judy watched, as the sports car drove backwards out of the parking lot onto the street. She could make out a small goodbye gesture from Vincent, before they drove off. Even when it was out of sight, Judy stood there and just looked into the direction they disappeared. Damn this woman. Now Judy was left with more questions. She just hoped she could distract herself by editing BDs. But to do that she had to get to Lizzie’s Bar.

“And there’s no fucking way I’m goin’ by bus again!”, Judy thought, determination burning in her eyes when she turned her attention to her Sea Dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things I wanted to point out. I noticed while writing that in Cyberpunk Judy tells the police she lives in Jackson Street, Northside. When on the map her appartment is located at Charter Street, Kabuki (there is even a fast travel point and street shield naming the street like that), so I went with Charter Street. Cyberpunk Wiki stated that, too.  
> Next thing, I'm kind of confused how Holo and cellphones work... Do you need a phone to use Holo? Clearly you use the Holo when calling someone, but you also write and get text messages. I see tons of people ingame who use a normal cellphone. Even Jefferson Paralez and I bet he has the money to afford the chrome for Holo calls. Since I couldn't find anything useful on that I went with: You at least need a cellphone plus the needed chipping to use the Holo function.  
> Also, I imagine the character models of both V's from 2018 for this story. But I try to write that you may put in any apperence you like. But seriously, why did they change the female 2018 version? oO This is completly lost on me.
> 
> That's all I've got for now. :)


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